


Tag, You’re It

by WanderlustandFreedom



Series: Descendants Short Stories and One Shots [6]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Art, Break Up, F/M, Graffiti, High School, Kings & Queens, Painting, Pranks and Practical Jokes, School, Vandalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 00:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19983274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderlustandFreedom/pseuds/WanderlustandFreedom
Summary: The first time Ben tags Mal’s locker, it’s just with an invitation to join the art department. But then... she reacted so ‘well’ that he couldn't resist doing it over and over again and again. Whoops.





	Tag, You’re It

He hears about it long before he actually gets to see it.

The rumor mill starts turning, people start passing notes and whispers and then Fairy Godmother is coming over with a tight-lipped expression to confirm what everyone is saying, what 'That Girl' has done to their school lockers. By the time he's actually led to the site of the problem, he's heard the descriptions in so much detail that the only surprise he feels upon seeing the graffiti on the wall is in relation to the one detail everyone conveniently forgot to mention.

It is amazing. The details are smooth and crisp. He has no idea how the daughter of Maleficent is so unbelievably talented with a spray can, but boy, is she ever! Fairy Godmother leads him right up to Mal's locker and then stands wringing her hands as he takes in the image of her mother with the motto 'Long Live Evil' engraved into the design. He runs his hand over the paint and discovers it's all in one sheet – it'll probably just pull right off. He hums as he examines the clean ut of Maleficent's horns and then turns back to the Fairy Godmother, who is looking irate and stressed.

"We ought to get her into Art Classes, and then we could actually compete with Corona's Art Department," He decides.

Fairy Godmother stands in shock for a few seconds, and then relaxes a little as she considers this. "Well, there's talent, no denying that, but… on our school lockers?" She frowns in disapproval.

"It looks like it'll peel right off," Ben hums, furrowing his brow. He could go and talk to Mal, ask her if she'd be willing to not spray paint the lockers, but he doubts she'll listen to him. If they have someone clean it off, then there's a chance she might just… expand her canvas. At least like this, it's contained. Ben runs his fingertips down his chin and a little smile crosses his face. "Fairy Godmother, I know this isn't really the solution you want to hear, but is there any chance we can just… leave it up?"

Fairy Godmother's face twists up and her eyes water in pain at the idea of having graffiti depicting Maleficent up in the school. Ben hurries to back himself up. "Just temporarily! I'm going to try and get into her graces. Maybe I can convince her to take it into Art Class, or at least see if she'll depict something other than 'Long Live Evil'." He runs his hand down the locker door. "Besides, I don't think it's that much of a problem, to be honest. If I can't convince her to take it down, we can leave it up for a few months and clean it off before we leave for summer break. I'll pay for any damage that the paint causes, if any."

Fairy Godmother is still regretful, but Ben implores her and with the assurance that the palace will make sure the locker is restored by the end of the year, she agrees to let the matter slide. So, Ben moves on to phase 2 of both his Isle Transferee plan and his Get-Mal-Into-Art-Class plan. He has to talk to the mini dragon and convince her to take it down.

He sees his chance when he's walking out of class with Chad and Audrey one day. Audrey is mid-sigh, laughing at one of Chad's jokes, when Chad hits Ben's arm lightly and a scowl darkens his expression. He points down the hall, past the passing students, to the defaced locker that is currently open with a pair of spray-paint covered leggings poking out underneath the door. Behind Mal, Evie's locker is open, and she's checking her eyebrows, which are immaculate as usual. "Those kids are trouble," Chad hisses.

Ben pulls his pen out from behind his ear and puts it into his pocket, looking down the hall as Evie shuts her door and bids Mal farewell. In his pocket is a black permanent marker, which he must have put there earlier and forgot about. "Come on, Chad," He implores. "Give them a chance."

Audrey lets out a little sigh and steps forward to give him a lecture, but he is barely listening because Mal glances past her locker door and down the hall, which is starting to clear, and he knows as sure as he knows his name that she can hear them, somehow.

"I think you're wrong about them," He declares when he hears Audrey fall silent. She sighs in exasperation and then turns and walks away. Chad casts another distrustful look towards the girl down the hall, and then he turns to follow her off down the hall. Ben heads in the opposite direction – towards the purple haired fairy hiding behind her locker. She closes it when she hears him approaching and turns as if she's going to walk past him. He leans into the lockers, blocking her path, and smiles. "Hey," He greets.

Mal blinks a little, as if she's surprised that he's dared to speak to her. "Hey," She returns.

"How was your first day?" He wants to know, glancing at the books she's clutching in her arms. One of them, unfortunately, looks like her mother's spell book. She can't be the only villain kid to receive a gift from their parent. Maybe he should have paid a little more attention to the cracked mirror Evie was using to examine herself earlier.

"Super," Mal hums, pressing her lips together in a way that makes the pink tones grow a little lighter for a few seconds.

Pleasantries aside, now is the time to strike. Ben nods his head towards her paint-covered locker. "You should really think about taking this talent off the locker and into Art Class. I could, uh, sign you up?"

Mal examines his gaze with a little squint and keeps her lips pressed together. "Hmm," She hums, as if she's considering it. "Way to take all the fun out of it." Then she squints her eyes at him a little more, turns in a smooth motion, and walks away without another word.

"Huh," He hums, leaning back into the locker next to hers and then staring at the graffiti as student pass by in front of him. He shoves his hands into his pockets and feels the cap of the sharpie that had somehow ended up there.

And immediately, an idea comes to mind.

He pulls the sharpie out of his pocket – it's black, he should invest in a set of purple or blue – and then turns to examine Mal's artwork. He knows he can't draw for crap, but his handwriting is pretty and elegant and… kinglike. It'll do nicely. Ben locates an area on the right side of Maleficent's wing and, on top of the green, scribbles: Art Club meets after school, in room 36. Go check it out. Then he caps the sharpie and walks off in the other direction. There isn't much fault in putting graffiti over someone else's graffiti, he thinks.

* * *

Mal, it would seem, does not agree with his reasoning.

He knows the moment she enters the room because the temperature drops and kids fall silent. Chad takes a deep breath of frustration, and he turns nonchalantly over his left shoulder to watch the Core Four enter the room. It's not at all surprising that they're here, but it should definitely be noted that they look like they're walking into battle. Each one stands with a stance of iron, frigid gazes sweeping over the crowd and hands clenched into fists. Mal's eyes are bright green and she looks so, so pissed. Evie spots him first and puts a hand on Mal's shoulder. Quickly, everyone else's gazes drift to Ben, who looks at them for a few seconds with mounting amusement as their jaws all set into place, and then turns around to return to his lunch.

There's heavy footsteps echoing off the walls and all in perfect synchrony, just like the standing army of Auradon. He listens to them get closer and closer and fiddles with the marker in his pocket before someone _slams_ something down into the table in front of her. He glances up briefly at the maths book before Mal plants her hands on the table and glares down at him. He pulls the marker from his pocket and does his absolute best not to laugh, picturing every undesirable thing he can conjure up on the spot to aid him, as he puts the permanent marker behind his ear.

"Yes?" He askes in a conversational tone.

"You defaced my locker," Mal sneers.

Ben snorts, loudly, and a sound that has all the Auradon kids around him exchanging looks. "You defaced your own locker," He reminds her. "It was a note, princess, so you might as well put the battle squad away." He gestures to the way Evie, Jay, and Carlos are all braced behind her in perfect, solid formation, clearly ready to jump him and beat him into a pulp. Still, he doesn't back down. Mal is Isle, and the Isle respects strength. He has a feeling that if he stands his ground, she'll back off before she orders her gang to attack the future King of Auradon. This way, he shows strength and, hopefully, earns the Auradon kids some respect.

"Princess?" Mal repeats, looking absolutely disgusted. She sneers and Ben swears he sees lightning flash _inside her eyes_ , like there's a tiny storm brewing in her pupils. It's absolutely amazing.

"Royalty of the Isle of the Lost?" Ben asks, spooning a bit of fruit salad as he looks back down at his tray. "Or, well, I guess Princess would be Evie. And I know that this is weird coming from the King of Auradon, but does the title 'Queen' do you a bit more justice?"

He raises the spoon to his mouth and Mal slaps it out of his grasp. Little bits of colorful cottage cheese goes splattering across his suit and the table. He sticks out a lower lip. "That's mean. I was going to eat that," He sighs, and reaches for a napkin. "Perhaps you'd like to be referred to as 'Dragon', instead?"

"Don't touch my locker again," Mal hisses, pointing a finger in his face. He looks down and notices pencil lead stains on the tips of her fingertips. Paint is underneath her nails. How interesting.

Ben doesn't say anything. He just calmly finishes mopping up the last of his lost fruit salad. An idea pops into her head. "Mal," He has to pause to keep from laughing. "Go eat. You're not yourself when you're hungry."

Chad starts coughing beside him at the reference to the popular online meme. A look of confusion passes over Evie, Jay, and Carlos's faces. Mal's lip curls, and then she abruptly shoves herself back up and takes her book off the table. She heads off with her associates following her. Ben gets up, finds his spoon, and sits back down again. Lonnie leans over the table with a little smile spreading across her face. "You're not going to quit, are you?" She asks in a whisper, tracking the four villain kids with her eyes as they head over to the lunchline.

"No," Ben shakes his head with a snort. "She's asking for it now. Game on."

* * *

Mal fixed his last message and unintentionally left him a wide, blank canvas. He fishes his marker out of his pocket and uncaps it. On Maleficent's left side, he makes a little row of four stick figures, all holding hands, above Mal's Mom's arm. Then, he adds little lines, like the group is casting a glow, and sets about to decorate the stick figures as best as he can. Mal, the shortest stick person, gets three wavy lines for hair and a deep frowny face. Evie gets a skirt and a jacket, and lots of pretty squiggles for hair. Jay gets a hat and a vest with no sleeves, and Carlos gets some curly hair and headphones. On the right side, he writes: 'Let me know if you want help signing up for Art Classes. Art Club is still available after school.'

The stick figures are a little wobbly and Mal's frown is bigger than her face, but the additions look overall pretty neat. He puts his marker in a pocket with a satisfied expression and walks off.

Later in the day, he walks into class and Doug, Chad, and Audrey immediately flag him down. Doug plants his hands on his desk and leans forward as Ben puts his backpack in his chair.

"Did you tag Mal's locker?" Doug demands as Audrey puts a photo down of the scribbles.

"Yeah," Ben affirms with a smile crossing his face. None of the VK's have come to glare at him, so he assumes they haven't heard yet or they're planning. Well, plotting, actually, as they prefer to call it.

"Dude, she's _pissed_ ," Doug gapes, staring at him in shock. "She stormed past me in the halls with Evie – her hair was steaming!"

Ben frowns. "Oh," He mourns. "I wish I'd gotten a photo of it."

Chad begins to laugh. "Nerves of steel, Ben, way to go! Show those Villain Kids who's boss!"

Ben shakes his head. "Actually, I'm just trying to convince Mal to join Art Classes. She's talented."

"Talented?" Audrey repeats, lips curling into a sneer that reminds Ben of Mal. "She made graffiti of her mother, and you're calling it talent?"

"Yeah," Ben agrees. "Did you see the detailing? She did that with a spray can. Can _you_ do that with a spray can?"

Audrey stays silent because, of course, she _cannot_ do that with a spray can. Ben shrugs and pulls his books out of his bag. "She won't be mad, anyways," He shrugs. "It's not like she can do much to get back at me."

* * *

"Oh my goodness," Audrey gasps as they walk up to his locker. Ben stays silent as he examines the long, ugly word splattered across his locker door. 'No', she has written, in black eerie paint. Part of it is still fresh, and the air smells like aerosol. He brings a hand up to his chin as he examines her work – all contained to his locker, thankfully. He glances down the hall to her locker and discovers that it's been stripped clean. There's not even any paint left in the hinge. No way she could have done that _that_ quickly. She must have a spell for it, he realizes with amusement.

"This is… vandalism!" Audrey shrieks. "Ben, look at it, it's hideous!"

"It'll come off," Ben rolls his eyes. He opens his locker and puts his books carefully before he feels in his pocket for his permanent marker. He locks his door, heads over to Mal's locker, and then in big, bold letters writes: "Please?" Then, because he feels like the question merits a drawing, he begins another shaky stick figure of Mal with crossed arms and a frown dropping off her face like an overgrown mustache. Audrey watches him, shaking her head.

"She's just going to keep going!" She warns him with narrowed eyes.

Ben nods in agreement. "Probably," He affirms. "It's nice to know I've got her goose though."

As he puts the marker away, he spots a flash of orange leather out of the corner of his eye. He turns and sees Jay stop in the entrance to the hallway, cross his arms, and examine Ben's new handiwork. Then, Ben watches Mal's friend raise a hand to cover his mouth as he tries his hardest to stop a laugh.

Ben raises a patronizing hand. "Don't laugh," He demands with as straight of a face as he can procure. "Not all of us are blessed with art skills."

Jay says nothing as Ben and Audrey walk away from the scene of attack. Ben is pretty sure he hears Jay start to laugh as soon as they're a fair distance away.

* * *

Ben bumps into Jay the next day – literally – because the hallway is crowded and doesn't think anything of it until he reaches his locker and discovers his trusty permanent marker is gone. Jay must have snatched it from him when they slammed into each other, Ben realizes with a sigh. And it's a shame, too, because Mal has defaced her locker again, but this time with a black design that resembles her and her squad. Ben traces the outlines in Carlos's curly hair and smiles to see Evie's mirror in hand and Jay's beanie expertly slouched on his forehead.

Then, he glances down the hall at his own locker and finds that the large, ugly word has been cleaned off. Instead, a mockery of the royal crest is atop his locker door. The beast in the crest is sticking his tongue out and one eye is slashed through. It's in the proper golden colors, and what amuses Ben the most about it is the fact she knows how to draw the royal crest.

He doesn't have a marker on hand, but he does know where to get one. There's several options: borrow from someone else, borrow from the art room, or…

During lunch that day, Ben makes a point of walking in late with a grocery bag slung over his arm. Mal and her friends are already sitting down at their table when he comes up behind Chad and Audrey and puts a hand on Audrey's shoulder as he puts the grocery sack on the table. "Sorry I'm late!" He announces, loud enough for his voice to carry. "I, uh, had to go pick up some things."

He glances over to Mal's table and watches Jay and Carlos turn around at his proclamation. His permanent marker is behind Jay's ear, but it doesn't matter as he reaches into his bag and pulls out a new pack of sharpie markers. He displays them in his arms as if he's just showing Chad and Audrey, but they're in clear sight for the villain kids to see as well. Jay, Evie, and Carlos's mouths all fall open and they turn to stare dumbfounded at Mal as the angry dragoness curls her nails into the lunchroom table.

Chad and Audrey take in the sight of the markers, and then turn to look over at the villain kids, who have effectively been duped. A snap comes as Mal accidentally breaks one of her long nails off her finger. Evie gasps in concern as Ben and Mal lock eyes from twenty feet away; her in barely-contained rage and he in scarcely-suppressed amusement. Because this is a declaration of war.

In his hands, he holds a full set of pretty purple markers, just a few shades off of her hair.

He spikes an eyebrow at Mal as a bright, gleeful smile spreads across his mouth. Evie starts to laugh, and Jay doesn't look like he's far behind as Mal's hands shake. He puts the markers away and sits down at his table, feeling very successful as Chad and Audrey exchange bewildered looks.

* * *

In retaliation for his stunt in the lunchroom, Mal wipes his locker clean of the crest and leaves it blank and white. He guesses it's because she doesn't think he deserves her artwork. Of course, that won't do, so he covers his locker himself.

Which is a mistake.

Because, if you'd forgotten…

Ben can't draw.

His locker is covered with an unintelligible mess that Ben is honestly embarrassed of. He tried to draw his family crest himself, and it looks about as much like the beast as a fly looks like a dragon. He tried to do a tree because he figured something like that was a good place to start, but now there's a jumble of squiggly lines that he can't even admit was _supposed_ to be a tree for fear of bringing shame and dishonor on him, his family, and his cow. Lastly, he tried to do a heart because he figured that was simple enough, but his arm slipped on the second side and now he has a very odd cane shape. He can't even remember how he managed to do the stick figures at this point.

Ben gives up on his own locker and, feeling a little disheartened, heads over to Mal's locker, where she and her friends still stare down at everyone who passes. He scribbles underneath the portraits: 'Art Club is still after school. Have you checked it out yet?'

He's just barely put the marker back into his pocket when Mal and Evie appear in the hallway and stop upon seeing him there. Evie bites her lip and looks to the ground while Mal's face goes white upon seeing his message. Ben smiles and waves to the two. "Hey!" He greets. "How are you guys today?"

"I'd be a whole lot better if you'd quit messing with my art!" Mal snaps, stomping up to him.

Ben nods, pinching his lips together in amusement. "I see how that would be frustrating," He hums. "I, too, am suffering from minor annoyances. There's a certain girl who should be displaying her talents on canvases in hallways everywhere and proving to everyone she's the best artist around, yet she lowers herself to defacing my locker with cream paint." He sticks a thumb out to his locker and watches Mal's eyes flick towards it once, then back to him. Suddenly, she processes what she just saw and leans to the far right, mouth falling open, to stare at his locker.

Ben remembers too late the awful squiggles covering his locker door.

"What did you do?" Mal wails, covering her mouth in absolute horror at the awful atrocities covering his door.

"I'm… making your artwork look even better than it did before," Ben declares, trying to fight the pink tones as they surface in his cheeks. And he's not wrong. With his abominable locker being just down the hall from Mal's masterpiece, it looks way more impressive than before.

"What even is this mess?" Mal whimpers, looking like she's in physical pain as she examines Ben's failed heart attempt. And it is a mess.

"Well, see, this right here is a… well, a," He falters, trying to come up with a good cover story. "It's a drawing of some of… Bigfoot's hair?" He chokes. "And this is a cracked candy cane and this right here is a mythical creature you hope to never meet outside your worst nightmares." He turns to watch Mal shrink into despair at his horrific artwork plus dazzling cover story.

"You're horrible!" She declares, looking and sounding like someone had just fed her entire soul through a grinder.

"Is that a compliment from the Isle of the Lost?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

Evie laughs as Mal braces her hands at her sides. She shakes her head. "I'm not touching that atrocity," She tells him. "You created it, so you can stare at it." She forces herself to turn and walk back to her locker, and a brilliant idea strikes Ben. If she's so embarrassed by his drawings when it has nothing to do with her, then…

Later that day, the words 'The artist who did this also did the locker down the hall' appears underneath Ben's invitation to Mal on her Locker door. Then, on his locker, he puts 'By the Daughter of Maleficent – Don't Mess With Her!'.

And then he waits.

* * *

His purple markers start disappearing whenever he's near Jay or Carlos. He kind of just lets them go; it means Mal is still invested in this battle.

His declaration that Mal had done the lines on his locker had produced the desired effect of Mal freaking out over her artist reputation being ruined. She'd cleaned his locker – and hers – clean before covering his with angry scaled beasts in dark shadows with hideous limbs and features. Meanwhile, on her locker, she creates a mighty dragon breathing fire down onto a tiny person.

The rumor mill is churning. Most people think that the person the dragon is burning is Ben, but Ben personally agrees with Audrey when his girlfriend proclaims that it looks a little like her. He has to figure out a way to get Mal to remove or change the new graffiti before something bad happens.

Fortunately, he knows a fairly easy way to do that.

He uses his third-to-last purple permanent marker to doodle a little dog in the fire with tiny Audrey-lookalike. He doesn't have to try to make it bad. The dog's belly is deformed, one eye covers a third of the face, one leg is about three times the length of another, and the tail is a floppy squiggle line. Then, he makes a broken mirror around the dragon's fiery breath and adds tiny flecks falling as if the dragon had broken through the mirror. He needs something for Mal, so he does a rough drawing of her mother's spellbook on the bottom of the locker before announcing in capital letters across the top of her locker: Tourney Game on Saturday – Look for Number 8, Scoring the Winning Goal.

And then, underneath, in smaller letters: 'Art Club after school and Art Classes still open for enrollment.'

During third hour, the entire school hears a shriek of rage that echoes off the walls and actually makes a windowpane in Fairy Godmother's office break. "Ben!" Mal can be heard cursing his name across the entire school.

Ben's class all turns around to stare at him. "Is that Mal?" Lonnie demands as the teacher pauses class with wide eyes.

Ben shrugs. "Probably," He affirms.

"What did you do?" Audrey asks with a deep frown. "She sounds pissed."

"She probably is," Ben laughs. "I drew over her new artwork on her locker."

One of the other kids in the class sighs dramatically, sinking back into their chair. "Dude, can you just ask her out the normal way?" He demands. "Isn't the paint a little excessive?"

Ben's mouth goes a little dry as Audrey's mouth drops indignantly. "I, erm, am not trying to ask her out. I'm trying to get her to sign up for art. And, before anyone else asks, it's going pretty well. Her friends all think it's hilarious and I think she's growing more attached to the idea than she realizes."

"She's going to kill you," Jane gasps in horror.

"Are you sure you're not trying to ask her out?" Someone else asks suspiciously.

Ben presents Audrey at his side. "Girlfriend," He introduces sarcastically. "I'm not asking Mal out."

One of their classmates blinks in surprise. "You're still together?" They ask. "I thought you broke up ages ago!" Audrey's face contorts in hurt.

Huh. The rumor mill has been a lot more active than he realized.

* * *

Mal changes her art to a detailed exhibition of some wicked green flames, but Ben's nasty depictions of brutal beasts stay up. Ben uses his last purple marker to scribble Mal and her friends with him a little ways away, all in stick-figure perspective. Above Mal', he puts a downwards-facing arrow, and makes her at least an inch shorter than all her peers.

Mal responds with a cutting portrait of his corpse in a coffin, which she takes down the next day without any prompting from him or Fairy Godmother at all. Even the daughter of Maleficent has her reservations and depicting the dead crown prince is apparently one of them. Ben is touched, even though the locker art turns back into dragons in the wake of his body.

His locker art hasn't been touched in some time, so he scribbles over it with a new golden permanent marker, from a pack of five-hundred that he'd opened in front of Mal and her friends, and the next day there's a picture of his dad with Auradon behind him, standing on the dirty Isle of the Lost.

It is one of the most stunning things he's ever seen.

Of course it is grotesque, as is Mal's usual style, but it's also intense and impressive. The lines and shadows in his dad's face are detailed and structured, and the Isle is hideous and demeaning in a way that only a citizen could express. Meanwhile Auradon is bright and flashy and a completely different sort of repulsive to Ben. It's prideful and antagonizing.

It's done with actual paint and brushes, not just spray cans. A different sort of art that she really put her heart into.

He's staring at it after class one day when Audrey walks by and her face twists into a sneer of rage so powerful that Ben doubts Mal and her friends – 'his villain kids', as people have been calling them – could rival it if they tried.

"You need to stop this!" She demands, dropping her purse on the floor and sticking out her lower lip to show how serious she is.

Ben blinks in surprise as he tears his eyes off of the painting and stares at his girlfriend. "Stop what?" He asks.

"This!" She yells, gesturing furiously to the portrait. "With the VK's and the spray paint and _Mal!_ "

"It's actually Acrylic paint, this time." Ben corrects, brushing his fingers along the details. "See the brush strokes?"

"Ben!" Audrey snaps, glaring at him even more now.

"I don't see the problem, Audrey," Ben huffs. "It's not hurting anything."

"It's hurting us!" Audrey disagrees with her eyes filling up with tears. She waves her finger back and forth between him and her. "You and I! You've been focusing all your time on what's the next big thing that Mal's going to draw and every single date has been about 'I'm going to do this to see Mal's reaction' and 'Mal is going to hate me for this'. I'm sick of it, Ben! You need to stop this right now!" She balls her fists up into tiny balls that probably couldn't even snap a pencil if they tried.

"Audrey, it's just a joke. We have our little jokes between you, Chad, Lonnie and I. It's just something I'm doing for fun. What's so bad about that?" Ben crosses his arms in defense.

"What's wrong with it is that you're going off in the deep end for a villain kid instead of me, and I don't know if you've forgotten this, but I'm the one you're dating, not Mal!" Audrey snaps, with angry, stressed tears streaming down her face. She must have been thinking about this for a while.

"Audrey, you need to calm down!" Ben holds up his hands. "Listen, I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you or anything. I'm just trying to make them feel more welcome and help them start more friendships. If you want, you and I can do something special later on this week. Would that make you feel better?"

Audrey wipes her eyes a little and picks up her purse. The argument seems almost over. Ben hadn't even realized when he'd stopped paying attention to Audrey – it just sort of happened. He glances back to the stunning portrait and that's when Audrey snaps.

"If you don't quit this painting nonsense, I'm breaking up with you, Ben," Audrey tells him with clenched fists. Ben's mouth drops open. Over a joke? For real?

Well, there was one thing Ben knows, and it was that he was not going to let Audrey's temper outburst break up the lead he had with the VK's. "Well, then maybe we should take a break," He frowns. "I don't like you trying to manipulate me with our relationship. That's not the kind of person I want to be with."

Audrey's mouth drops open. "You're breaking up with me?" She asks.

"I think you're breaking up with me," Ben corrects. "You said that if I didn't quit the painting stuff, we were done, and I'm not quitting the painting stuff. So, we're done." He turns back to the portrait, away from Audrey, opens his locker, and takes out a white permanent marker. Audrey stands still, in shock, as Ben goes over to Mal's locker and writes, in the bottom right-hand corner, 'Thank You'. He listens to Audrey breathing hard in rage, and then hears her spin around and walk away. Ben continues his little note. 'The portrait is exquisite, and I love it so much. Do you have a name for it?'

"You could just ask me that in real life," A voice comes from behind him.

Ben looks over his shoulder and spots the purple-haired girl standing over his shoulder, examining the note as he writes it. She shakes her head. "How can someone with such beautiful handwriting be so bad at drawing?" She asks.

"How can someone who spent all her time learning to be a villain have so much talent?" He replies. "Your drawings are just… flawless."

Mal makes a sound of acknowledgement in the back of her throat and twiddles her thumbs a little as she gazes at the dragons on her locker. "Are you, uh, okay about Audrey?"

"Oh yeah, fine," Ben nods, examining the dragon on her locker and then reaching up to write her name in his most beautiful cursive. "Like I said, I don't want to be in a relationship with someone who uses that relationship against me. And besides, Audrey hasn't really been acting like someone I would want to make a queen since she got here."

Mal hums, quietly watching her name appear in beautiful, official-looking font on her locker, and then turns and walks away.

* * *

Ben wakes up a little late and doesn't have time to run to his locker before breakfast. When he walks in, the room goes a little quiet, and the Fairy Godmother appears, gesturing to him frantically. As a precaution, he seeks out the villain kids to make sure that he isn't being summoned for Jay stealing something or for Mal destroying someone's property, but they're all present and don't look like they're into more trouble than usual. Jay is wearing his tourney shirt and Evie is fixing her makeup while Mal watches him over the pages of her spellbook.

He grabs a raspberry Danish and then the Fairy Godmother leads him through the halls to where his and Mal's lockers are. Ben gasps when he sees what the new development is. Stretching across Mal's locker in place of the dragon is a very realistic painting of Gaston, his father's attempted murderer, shaking hands with Audrey, his ex-girlfriend. As always, it was very detailed and immaculate, but the sinister tones implied in the painting make Ben shiver.

"This is going a bit far, Ben," Fairy Godmother tells him. "We didn't say anything when she depicted you dead, but this is just… too much. If Audrey complains to her parents, we'll have to stop this whole escapade, no matter how funny it has been for the whole school.

"I'll ask Mal to change it," Ben nods, pulling his phone out of his pocket and backing up a few steps to photograph the painting. "Look at this detail! How does she put so much into such a small space?"

"It is amazing," The Fairy Godmother agrees. She folds her hands. "So, is the rumor mill true? Are you planning on asking the daughter of Maleficent out?"

"Since when are you one to get involved in student relationships?" Ben asks, raising an eyebrow. "And no, I'm not. I'm just trying to convince her to sign up for art."

"Ah," Fairy Godmother nods. "I was asking because apparently Carlos and my Jane will be going to a movie on Friday evening, and Doug and Evie are doing an 'independent study group'. Jay of course has tourney, and Mal has an ongoing art war with the Crown Prince of Auradon."

"War is a strong word," Ben hums, even though it had been him to first declare war with the markers. "It's more like… an argument. Or a strongly-pictured discussion with depictions of my dad and ex-girlfriend involved."

"A war," Fairy Godmother nods. "Well, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do," Ben nods, going to his locker, opening it, and pulling out a blue permanent marker. Jay and Carlos are still stealing his markers. He's running out of good colors and has a feeling Mal will return to being a little annoyed if he writes on her locker in hot pink. Under Fairy Godmother's watchful eye, he scribbles on her locker door, right beside the lock: 'Who else can you do? Suggestions: Evie, Jay, Carlos, Yourself. Art Club after school, will you be there?'

"You should just ask her out," Fairy Godmother hums. "You would be cute together."

Ben rolls his eyes. "I'm just going to stick to getting her into art class." He laughs.

* * *

The next morning, Jay and Carlos stand outside of his door when he unlocks it. He supposes that at this point he should just assume the villain kids will never become predictable to him and he should just expect them to pop up, but their dramatic appearance still shocks him.

"Sup!" Jay exclaims, crossing his arms and nodding sharply to the ceiling.

"Have you seen Mal's locker yet?" Carlos asks.

"I just barely woke up," Ben laughs. "But let's walk down and see it."

"Well, it's your locker, and her locker," Jay corrects. "And, um, you may want to wait till later. Apparently, there's a crowd outside of the area."

"A crowd?" Ben frowns.

"Admirers," Carlos nods. "Students and Fairy Godmother and some people from the National Art Association. But when you do get the chance to see it, just know she stayed up till the sunrise finishing everything."

"Sunrise?" Ben's eyebrows shoot up. "Does she even sleep?"

"Not anymore," Jay shakes his head. "She's been staying up to finish these portraits because you like them so much."

"Huh," Ben furrowed his brow. He hasn't even considered _when_ Mal is making all her masterpieces, and now he feels rather guilty. "Where is she now?"

"I think she told Evie she was missing her first class and then she'd go to the rest," Jay explains. "But anyway, we came to warn you about your locker, and also to return a few things." He pulled a fistful of markers out of his pockets, and Carlos did the same. Ben laughed and held out his hands to take them back. His smile faded slightly as he examined them. There was the sparkly gold and the dark blue and all of the purples and the white one, but not all of the colors had been returned.

"Why are you only returning a couple?" Ben asks with a frown.

"Well, about that…" Jay trails off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We've grown rather fond of some of the colors," Carlos declares, turning his head a little so Ben could see the headset around his neck and the sharpie design that now cover the side of the earpiece.

"Wow!" Ben's mouth drops open as he leans forward and examines the design. "Did Mal do that one too?" It features two crossed bones and several different shades of red, grey, and black.

"She did," Carlos affirms. "But anyways, we're keeping the colors we like and returning Mal's favorites."

Ben frowns again. "Why would you return Mal's favorite colors? I mean, if she wants to use them, them-"

"No, not her favorites to _use_ ," Jay shakes his head. "Because we're keeping all the greens and some purple too. But these are the favorite ones that she likes to see on her locker. She says if you start using hot pink then she'll paint someone she hates naked on your locker in retaliation. Just a warning."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ben shudders. "I doubt anyone would enjoy that very much."

"Yeah, she'd probably get annoyed with it and take it down herself after a while," Carlos agrees. "That's what happened with that one where you were dead. She got herself all upset painting it and then couldn't keep it up after that. She got really into this whole thing. It's like, the most important thing to her now."

"I love it," Ben confesses. "I definitely didn't mean for it to go this direction, but I think the whole school is enjoying it at this point."

"Everyone is saying you're going to ask her out," Jay reminds Ben, sticking his hands into the front of his athletic jacket. "That true?"

Ben shakes his head. "I'm not planning on it," He explains. "Though lots of people have been asking me lately."

"Oh," Carlos's face furrows up. "Okay, cool. Hey, if you ever do, you, me, her, and Jane should all see about doing a double thing."

"Oh yeah, I heard you and Jane were going around," Ben nods. "Jane is super nice. We grew up together."

"Yeah, she's great," Carlos smiles. He glances at his watch. "Hey, Jay, we've got to get to class. It was great talking to you, Ben."

"Nice talking to you too! Thanks for tipping me off about everything," Ben raises his hand to wave to the two boys as they salute him and start walking away. He can't believe that Mal has people from NAA looking at her artwork, much less that she's stayed up all night working on a project. He wonders what she'd drawn this time.

* * *

A figure in purple is slumped over at a picnic table in the shade. Ben has to keep from laughing as he walks over, examining her hair, slung forward onto the table, and her fallen backpack beside her. He sets his gift down in front of her and carefully announces his presence. "Hey Mal!"

Mal stirs and opens an eye. She flips her hair back into place over her head and Ben stifles a chuckle at the way half of her hair settles back into place on her head and the other hair remains spoofed from the angle she was lying at. She blinks several times and then yawns as she raises a hand towards him. "Hey, Ben," She mumbles, leaning against her hand.

"Jay and Carlos told me you were up late," Ben begins, then pauses as Mal begins to nod as her eyes drift closed. "So, I brought you some Iced Black Coffee with no milk and no sweetener and also I know it's not as good as anything you can do, but I asked the barista to draw a little dragon on the side of the cup." Ben turns the cup around to show off the dragon as Mal's eyes fly open and she examines the drink suspiciously.

"That's my order," She frowns. "How did you know that?"

"I'm in charge of you guys while you're in Auradon. I know everything about your lives." Ben explains as he took a seat.

"Did Evie tell you?" Mal asks through a yawn as she reaches for the cup and examines the dragon. A little smile spreads across her mouth.

"Evie did tell me," Ben affirms with a nod. "You'd better try it and make sure I got everything right, though, otherwise I'll have to run back and get a second."

Mal snorts and takes a sip, closing her eyes as she does. Ben drums his fingers a little and watches her sigh in relief. "I'm tempted to say it's wrong so you can run and get me another, but it's perfect. Thanks."

"No problem," Ben laughs. "I'm sorry it didn't occur to me that you were staying up to paint."

Mal nods. "It's the detailing that takes the longest. My locker was being the troublesome one last night. I couldn't get my eyes to look right."

"Your eyes?" Ben asks, perking up a little. Had she drawn herself?

"Have you seen it yet?" Mal asked with a frown.

Ben shook his head. "Jay and Carlos tipped me off that you had _National Art Associates_ at our lockers today, so I've been avoiding the area while it clears out."

Mal furrows her brow a little in disappointment. She reaches down and picks up her backpack before she gets to her feet. "Come on," She invites him, nodding her head to the school.

They walk through the halls in silence, shoulder to shoulder as Mal sips her coffee. She leads him to the hall with their lockers. It is still relatively crowded with people who are gaping in amazement at the paintings. Mal steps through everyone and the area clears for the creator. Ben's breath catches as he looks over Mal's locker. On it are the portraits of her, Evie, Jay and Carlos. Their hair is sleek, shiny and lifelike. Mal is holding a sword and staring straight ahead with a dark purple leather suit covering her. Evie is turned slightly to the side, looking over her shoulder, and Jay and Carlos pose with their shoulders back in firm positions. If not for the size comparisons, Ben would swear he was looking at the actual Core Four.

"This is amazing!" He sputters, waving his hands a little in a complete inability to express his meaning. "This is… this is! How do you do all of this in one night?" He leans in, searching for the tiny brushstrokes covering the locker. "Do you use magic?" He gasps.

"No," Mal shakes her head. "Using magic would take the fun out of painting. And to be honest, I like yours a lot better." She points down the hall to where Ben's locker is. Ben tears his gaze away to look towards his own space and his entire expression falls slack at what he saw. He leaves Mal's locker and walks down the hall to brush his fingertips down his very own portrait. It is completely unlike any portrait he's ever seen of himself. He has his hands clasped underneath his chin and is wearing a simple yellow button-up shirt. In this, he appears to be sitting at one of the outdoor lunch tables, and he's looking up at the sky and to the right a little bit as he laughs. She's caught him mid-laugh. It's so natural and lifelike that he almost expects to catch himself breathing. Even the grass behind him looks real. Bordering the painting is a solid gold frame with the beast crest – the proper one, this time – set in the center of the painting. The shading behind the frame is so realistic that you can only tell it's a painting if you're looking at it from the side.

"How are you so talented?" He gasps. "I haven't met a palace personnel or anyone who can draw as well as you can. This is such raw talent…" He turns to stare at her in utter amazement. A little blush creeps across her cheeks.

"This is amazing," He tells her. "It's like I'm looking through a window. Just absolutely crazy." Ben stares at Mal, eyes tracing her jawline and eyes. "Why won't you sign up with the art department?" He asks.

Mal wrinkles up her nose a little and her shoulders slump a bit. "I, um…" She trails off. "I don't want to waste my time having people tell me things I already know."

"But think of all the people you could help!" Ben protests. "And just imagine all the things you could learn about the business. This would be so good for you!" He puts a hand on her shoulder and looks straight into that electric-green gaze of hers. "Mal, you should totally do it."

"Well…" Mal trails off, looking a bit confused. "It's not that easy," She sighs.

"Why not?" Ben asks. "What have you got to lose? You could make so many friends and have lots of art supplies and get to make tons of new friends! Plus, I'd stop pestering you to join."

Mal moves away from his grip with a downcast expression. "I don't want to join," She sighs. "I just… I'll talk to you later." She turns around with another sigh and a shake of her head, and Ben watches her part the crowd like the red sea before she's gone.

* * *

The artwork stays for two more days, and then it's all gone. Back to clean lockers and no paint. Ben can't understand where he went wrong. He feels like he almost had her. She had been so close to agreeing and then… something had happened. He lays awake at night, thinking about the downcast, almost regretful manner in which she'd said 'I don't want to join." Clearly, she thought it would be cool. Clearly, she had talent. What was holding her back?

During lunch, as he sits with Chad, Doug, and Lonnie, watching the villain kids from a distance, he notices Mal picking at her plate and mumbling to Evie, Jay, and Carlos. Something is wrong. Something that is starting to feel a lot like it's his fault.

Doug leans across the table. "Did Fairy Godmother shut down you and Mal?" He asks.

Ben shakes his head. "She actually approved of the whole thing. Mal just told me she didn't want to join and now the locker art has just… died." He sighs, slumping back into his chair. "I'm really… disappointed, but I don't know what went wrong."

Doug pulls out his phone with a sigh. "How about I text Evie and ask if she has any clues?" He offers, unlocking the screen and going straight into the messaging system. Ben sighs and doesn't say anything as Doug types out a lengthy message and then sends it to Evie. The group turns as one to glance at the VK table as Evie reaches into her purse, pulls out her phone, and glances at them. As one, they all return their attentions to their plates while Evie answers Doug.

After about a minute, Doug's phone dings. He holds up the screen to read the text's contents and then clears his throat. "Tell Ben to meet Jay, Carlos and I by the tourney field at two." He relays, and then shuts off the screen.

Ben sighs and nods. This is something that requires a face-to-face discussion. He only hopes he's prepared for it.

* * *

Evie, Jay, and Carlos are all sitting in the lower section of the bleachers when he walks up. They watch him approach with forlorn expressions. Ben swallows as he took a seat facing them and Evie twisted a black book in her hands. It's filled with loose leaflets. She puts it down on the bleachers and gestures at him to pick it up. Ben does as she commands and pops the seal off on the book.

"Mal's been having a rough last few days," Evie whispers. "She's pretty bummed about the locker stuff."

"I am too," Ben sighs. He opens the book and is greeted to a welcome, familiar sight. It's the original 'Long Live Evil' graffiti he first noticed on her locker. A smile spreads across his face at the memory. He flips the page and discovers the other artworks she's done. Demons and dragons and everything she's put on their lockers. His dead body is obviously missing, but that was okay because he isn't been particularly attached to it. He reaches the end with the portraits of them, and then keeps going. There are things from the Isle and from Auradon Prep and from a land he assumes is entirely Mal's creation.

Near the back of the booklet he starts seeing himself more and more predominately. In class, in the halls, standing by his locker, and everywhere in-between.

"She got really into this," Carlos mumbles from behind Ben. "We think it's because she got really into you."

"She only kept up with the locker thing because she saw and heard how impressed you were," Jay explains.

"And then she realized that if she started taking Art Classes, it'd stop. All the little notes and you asking her things and her getting to tag your locker with graffiti… and then she couldn't even though she started to kind of want to." Evie sighs, running her hands through her hair. "Now, she's just kind of in a 'blah' phase. She doesn't really want to work on anything because she's sad."

Ben traces one of his portraits with his fingertips and a quiet smile. Then he swallows. "I think I might have an idea," he announces slowly. "Can you send Mal to our lockers? Just send her a text and I'll meet her there."

* * *

He can hear Mal's boots hitting the floor as she walks closer and closer to him, so he turns and begins to doodle a tiny crown on her locker. He hears her stop in the doorway of the hall and mentally prepares himself for Mini-Maleficent before he heard boots stepping towards him and turns to watch her forlorn, blank expression as she walks towards him.

"Your drawing is still horrible," She mumbles. "You're defiling my locker."

"Another Isle compliment?" He asks, and then drops the white sharpie and recaps it. "It was supposed to be a crown."

"It looks more like a chewed-up sunflower seed." Mal laughs.

"Yeah, I can't draw," Ben agrees with a chuckle. "I can write, but I can't draw. Maybe I could, though, if I had a good teacher." He glances over at her and their gazes lock in something in something incredibly powerful that he can't quite fathom yet.

"A teacher?" She clarifies. "Is there a question in there?"

Ben jerks his head back to where his locker is. He turns and together, they walk down to his locker. Ben's locker is open, hiding the back plate from view. Ben shuts it with a flick and then stands back as Mal examines the locker. On it is a letter, written first in gold and then in white. A tiny, enchanted smile crosses Mal's face as she reads it.

'Mal,' it reads, 'Art Club is still after school and Art Classes are in need of a leader. My class schedule is full, but I still need a tutor to help me with my drawing skills. Why don't we sign up together and call it a date?'

"I thought Jay and Carlos said you weren't planning on asking me out?" Mal asks with a tiny, breathless gasp.

"Well, I changed my mind," Ben smiles. "The truth is, I missed much more than just your artwork. I missed the conversation and the connection. I need someone like you, artistic and funny and beautiful, in my life. So, what do you say, should we sign up together?"

Mal smiles with a little nod and then chuckles. "Lead the way to the registry, Beast Boy."

Ben laughs as he puts an arm around her, and they head off to the Art Room to announce the two latest members of the after-school club.


End file.
